ME and my buddy are going to go Pike fishing this weekend because its going to be really nice out.  He has a trolling motor on his canoe.  How should we troll baits such as Origianl Rapalas, husky jerks, spoons, spiinerbaits.  How much line should we let out to troll.  Any other advice would be apprciated.  Thank you.
"Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, Feed Him For a Lifetime"

Try trolling the edges of any weedbeds you can find. The Pike will most likely be shallow this time of year, let depth determine your lead length. Don't be afraid to vary your speed and sweep your rod from time to time. Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

I usually straight line troll for pike.  I like to use Rebel spoonbill minnows, deepdown husky jerks or even Rapala DT 16.  I look for a drop off near a weedbed edge.  I let out 100' of line (line counter reel) unless I have a Gapin "poor mans down rigger" then it is about 30' back.  I use a steel leader.  My trolling speed is 1.8 mph mostly.  I zig zag between the weed edge and the drop-off, making sure I pass over the drop-off.  But in the spring I use casting spoons or 1/16 oz jig with chartruse head, red eyes and a 2" twin tailed white twisty.  For the most part, in the spring, after feeding they will head into the shallower water and sun themselves.  Good time to toss a jig!  Early in the morning they can be found at the mouth of these small back bays putting the feedbag on...

 

 

LM since 2005 Bushwacker Deputy Sherif from S.E. Pa.

Me and my buddies are going to try a new lake for big pike.  The problem I am having is deciding how to approach this lake.  It is a clear water lake and deep, 80ft.  The drops are almost immediate from the shoreline, although 1 bay is 10ft and quickly drops to 40ft.  I would probably like to troll but, I am not an avid troller, I mostly cast for pike.  In the presence of such a dramatic drop I am stumped.  Anyone have any tips?  I do not have any planer boards or down riggers so, trolling is limited. Any help would be great!!

john, i would start by working the shallow's bays ya can find and casting around the shallow's weeds ya can find. these fish are resting and feeding after doing their thing, spawning. yer bait fish and panfish are coming into the shallows now to put on a feed of their own before they spawn. also would like to say that the pike will not be to far from were they spawned at this time. look for weeds that are on the 1st. main break that are starting to green up. 6-12' depths would be a could place to start.

 

for lures, i would look at huskey jerks in the color pattern of the main bait fish of the lake ya are fishing in......such as perch finish if ya have alot of perch in the lake. or even smelt if they are in the lake. i would have a few different colors to be trying........silver and black, gold and black, gold and red, shad and blue. all these colors work good for me and they don't have to be rapala's. but work great on any stick bait and it's at least 6" long or bigger. suspending baits work great at these depths because ya can work them slower than a floating bait with weight added onto the line. if the pike are hitting hard then ya can speed up yer retrieve and if they want it slowed down ya can do that too.

Try a twin tailed, white twisty on a 1/16 oz jig...Hot stuff at lake Champlain in the early spring!  I use that combo all over - east & mid west and it's a winner!

 

 

LM since 2005 Bushwacker Deputy Sherif from S.E. Pa.

Another option is live bait. Here in NY it is legal to catch and use perch bait in the water you have caught the perch. If your going to use two lines from a canoe. I suggest you hold the rods in your hand and have your buddy position himself facing you. Put the lines 60' back with the one and 80-90' back with the other. Now as you steer with one hand and hold the rod up with the other he can watch the lines so that they don't get crossed. I would then run parralel to the weed edge. But making figure S's occasionally  making such sharp turns that you almost go 180 degrees. This will stop your lure or bait and then when you straighten the canoe or boat back out it speed it up.

I'm new at trolling, but put alot of time in last summer trying differant things. This is what worked for me.

If it wasn't for rabbit and turnip I might not have ever gotten into trolling. I have found it is easier with two in a power boat than by yourself. But it can and is done only.

Lifemember and Bushwacker SMF upstate NY

Good morning, All

What say we blow off work and go fishing?  (I wish!)  I have a question regarding trolling...  How do you judge speed?  I have a small boat and small motor without any type of speed gauge.  I hear a lot of talk of mph when trolling, but how do you how fast you're moving?

I have an inexpensive Garmin eTrex GPS.  I set it on the bench next to my seat and set the function for "speed" and watch the mph.  I think these can be purchased for $79 still.  I was using my speed indicator on my fishfinder but that is not accurate.  My boat is only a 16 footer, and this works very well.  I plan to purchase and install a mount, a cig lighter to plug it into and hook it to my main battery so that I won't have to worry about my AA batteries running out of juice.  I hope this answers your question!

 

 

LM since 2005 Bushwacker Deputy Sherif from S.E. Pa.

as turnip said, there are gadgets out there that don't break the bank. me, i'm old school and just rely on the feel. do it enough times and ya get a good feel on what speed works........still don't know how fast i'm really going, but most of the time i figure out a working speed.

Speed over ground is fine until you fish in current. SOG is what is available from a GPS. Water speed factors in current and that can only be accuratly measured at the depth your bait is running. This is why the paddlewheel on a fishfinder often disagrees witha GPS. On top of that, in a deep lake there may be a subsurface current in a different direction! This is not a problem in rivers and flowages, but can be in larger lakes. If you can fish still waters and get a feel for the lures, you should be able to learn to guage speed by the load on the rods, it just takes time! Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

With straight line trolling I can just about tell by feel if I am in the right speed zone.  I stay pretty steady at 1.8 mph.  But when I spped up I need the GPS to set me straight!  And what Tom was saying is right on!

 

 

LM since 2005 Bushwacker Deputy Sherif from S.E. Pa.

That's a good place to start- I have one of those E-Trex's too. You do have to keep in mind wind, current etc. since those will have an effect on your true water speed. Sometimes your Garmin will say you're sitting still but the current says you're trolling a couple MPH. It is a good tool though. It'll also help you track good 'holes' and such.
                                                   Prober
                                                         LTM 02-08

Remember that at very slow speeds, GPS accuracy is out the window. Try walking VERY slowly with a handheld GPS and watch the speed reading! Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

Take a kid fishing

going to fish mullet lake in nortern mich, trying for big pike. any one have good tips ? I fished there alot years ago but its been a long time.

My best advice would be to fish for walleye, I can never catch a Northern on purpose, but sure seem to put plenty on the line fishing for anything else! Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

man i haven't fished mullet since i was a kid. but from what i have read, fish husky jerks along the main breaks this time of the year. and go deep as it warms up during the summer.sorry i don't know of any exact spots for ya.

 

good luck memphis and let us know how ya do.

thanks for you advice , Iwill fish for whatever will bite and hope its a monster pike.lost this website took some doing to get back in .   thank you  from memphis.